SUMMARY AND ORGANIZATION OF THE BOOK:
“People do not choose an argument because it is the preferred method. They simply don’t know any other way. The Six Hats provides another way.” - (extract from the book)
Six Think Hats provides us with an entirely different approach of thinking. The author introduces the art of “parallel thinking”. Communication, decision making, brain-storming, meetings are made a whole lot easier and effective with the Six Thinking Hats method.
Six Thinking Hats is a 177 page book with 43 chapters. The chapters are organized into six major sections, which focus on the functions of six different hats.
The first three chapters introduce the concept of six hats to the readers. The rest of the chapters address the hats with 5 to 8 chapters per section. The last two chapters provide the benefits of using the six hats method and conclusion.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Edward de Bono is regarded as the leading authority in direct teaching of thinking as a skill. He originated the term “lateral thinking” and has developed formal techniques for deliberate creative thinking.
Biography:
Edward Charles Francis Publius de Bono was born in Malta on 19 May 1933. De Bono then gained a medical degree from the University of Malta. He was a Rhodes Scholar at Christ Church, Oxford, in England where he gained an MA in psychology and physiology. He also has a PhD degree and a DPhil in medicine from Trinity College, Cambridge, a DDes (Doctor of Design) from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, and an LLD from the University of Dundee.
He has held faculty appointments at the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, London and Harvard. He is a professor at Malta, Pretoria, Central England and Dublin City University. De Bono holds the Da Vinci Professor of Thinking chair at University of Advancing Technology in Phoenix, USA. He was one of the 27 Ambassadors for the European Year of Creativity and Innovation 2009.
Dr. de Bono runs the most widely used program for the direct teaching of thinking in schools.
Published Works:
He has written sixty-two books which have been translated into thirty-seven languages.
Some of his published works are: The Use of Lateral Thinking, Po: A device for successful thinking, The Happiness purpose, I am Right, You are Wrong, Eureka!: An Illustrated History of Inventions from the Wheel to the Computer, Teaching Thinking, Simplicity, Children Solve Problems, etc.
In 1995, he created the futuristic documentary film, 2040: Possibilities by Edward de Bono, a lecture designed to prepare an audience of viewers released from a cryogenic freeze for contemporary (2040) society. REVIEW OF THE BOOK:
Western thinking basically revolves around argument, judgment and analysis. In simpler terms, Western thinking is concerned with “What is”.
Arguments are ego-driven. People aim at establishing their views over the other. Each party involved in an argument tries to prove the other wrong.
In parallel thinking (Six Hats Method), all views, no matter how contradictory, are put down in parallel. The focus is on “what can be” which involves moving forward.
Emotions, information, logic, hope and creativity plays a vital role in the thinking process. Parallel thinking maximizes our brain’s sensitivity in one direction at one particular time. By this way, we avoid confusion and come up with thorough judgments.
“The essence of the Six Hats Method is that at any moment everyone is looking in the same direction.”

Each hat in the Six Hat method is a direction label for thinking. The six colors correspond to the six directions of thinking: white, red, black, yellow, green and blue.
Hats have been referred to with colors so that it is easy for us to visualize each hat and to distinguish one form the other.
The colors also relate to the function of each hat. * White Hat: White is neutral and objective. Hence it is concerned with facts and figures. * Red Hat: This gives the emotional view as red suggest anger, rage and emotions. * Black Hat: Black hat is cautious and careful. It points out the weakness in an idea. * Yellow Hat: It is optimistic and covers hope and positive thinking. * Green Hat: It indicates creativity and new ideas. * Blue Hat: It is concerned with control, organization of the thinking process and use of other hats.
It is necessary for a person using this method to understand that these hats only set the direction for thinking and should not be used to describe the thought process. Similarly, the hats should not be used to categorize people.
The Six Thinking Hats method makes full use of a person’s experience and intelligence.
How to play the game of Six Thinking Hats:
Discipline, timing and guidelines necessary.
In the Six Hats Method, every participant is expected to think in one particular direction at a given time. They have to switch over from one hat to another when expected to. It is necessary to adhere to the rules laid down. Time and discipline are the two major areas to be focused on.
The hats are mere symbols to request a particular type of thinking.
The two basic ways of using the hats are: The Single Use and the Sequence use.
In the sequence use, the hats can be used one after the other. The sequence can be pre-set or you can choose the hat as and when one hat is complete.
The sequence depends on the kind of situation in which this method is being used.
WHITE HAT:
With the White hat, focus is on seeking and laying out information. All relevant facts and figures are laid on the table. No interpretations are made. Care should be taken to not overload information.
We should not provide facts in order to push our point of view. Neutrality of the white hat should be maintained.
There are two types of facts- checked and believed facts. Checked and proven facts are first-class facts. Believed facts are not fully checked and they are second class facts.
It is not possible to always provide first class facts.
Anecdotes and instances can also be provided. In such cases, care should be taken while framing the information.
The Japanese style input should be adopted for the White hat session. Every participant provides his piece of neutral information. The information slowly organizes itself into an idea.
Our own opinions should not be provided. However, it is acceptable to quote another person’s opinion as information.
RED HAT:
The Red hat deals with that part of thinking which makes us human – emotions, feelings, intuitions and hunches.
During the red hat session, every participant is given a chance express what they feel about a given idea. Feelings are only mentioned and they should not be justified or explained.
Emotion affects our thinking in three ways. * Strong background emotions such as fear, anger, etc limits our perception. We have to realize such background emotions and observe the subsequent influence. * Initial perceptions may also cloud our thinking. * Emotions play a role after the map of the situation has been put together.
Here, we can express our opinions. Artificiality is the essence of the red hat. Views can be expressed without offending another person.
While wearing the red hat, we are allowed to change the emotions by trying different ways of perceiving it.
BLACK HAT:
The black hat is the most useful and most important of all hats. It is the hat of survival.
It is based on critical thinking adopted by the Western civilization.
The black hat assesses risks, dangers, obstacles, potential problems and downside of a suggestion. The black hat ensures that the idea ‘fits’ with the policy and strategy, ethics and values, resources of the organization and the facts conveyed by others. Procedural errors in thinking can also be pointed out.
Great care should be taken while using the black hat. The black hat session should be limited to a fixed time. The session should not degenerate into an argument.
YELLOW HAT
When we put on the Yellow hat, we deliberately set ourselves to find the value and benefit of a suggestion.
The yellow hat is a Judgment hat. Reasons for the value or benefit put forth are determined.
The Yellow Hat encourages constructive and generative thinking. Participants are encouraged to go beyond problem solving. We speculate opportunities that will be available in the future. New ideas, suggestions and proposals come out this way.
The yellow hat is relatively tougher to use than the black hat. This is because; it is second nature for human to be cautious. However, no such mechanism exists for positive thinking.
GREEN HAT:
The Green Hat is the energy hat.
Everybody is expected to make an effort to be creative.
We create new possibilities, new ideas and alternatives. The green hat thinker thinks of possible ways to overcome difficulties listed out by the black hat.
Provocation and lateral thinking are the key ingredients for green hat thinking.
BLUE HAT:
This is the hat of control or overview.
At the beginning of the session, the blue hat defines the situation, seeks alternative definition to a problem, lay out the purpose of thinking.
The agenda/sequence of use of other hats is laid out. In short, the blue hat sets the “thinking strategy”
The blue hat ensures that discipline is maintained and it announces the change of hats.
At the end of the session, the blue hat asks for outcomes of a thinking session and the next step to be taken. The blue hat is referred to as book ends.
The facilitator of the session adorns the blue hat. It is a permanent role. However, it is still open to anyone to offer blue hat comments and suggestions.
BENEFITS OF THE SIX HATS METHODS:
By using the six hat method, decisions tend to make themselves.
The author guarantees that there will be no need to adopt other special techniques of decision making.
The six hats method deals with one aspect of thinking at a time. This avoids confusion. Therefore it saves time and facilitates full explorations of the subject.
Unlike arguments, the Six Hats method provides a neutral and objective way of exploring a subject. This removes ego.

PERSONAL VIEW ABOUT THE BOOK:
The author himself has mentioned that there is no mystery behind the Six Thinking Hats method. All points that he had seem obvious to the reader. This is in fact true. We fail to realize the fact that we know these concepts.
The language used is very simple and easy to understand. The author has provided ample number of examples which help the reader to understand what the author intended to convey.

There is a difference between reading and actually putting the method into practice. Only with application will we understand the usefulness of the Six Hats Method.
PERSONAL LEARNING FROM THE BOOK:
The book has provided me with an entirely new approach to decision making and thinking which is free from bias. By using the six thinking hats method, arguments can be avoided and brainstorming sessions will be more productive. Everybody’s views and opinions are considered. There is no competition.

COMPANIES USING THE SIX THINKING HATS METHOD:
It has been more than two decades since the book was first published in 1985. The Six Hat Method is being widely used all over the world right from schools to multinational companies.
Some of the companies following the Six Hat method are: DuPont, IBM, NASA, Federal Express, AT&T, Honeywell, Intel, Motorola, and many more.
TESTIMONIALS ON SIX THINKING HATS:
"Six Hats is a simple, yet powerful tool that can be learned rapidly and used immediately to achieve long-lasting results. Six Hats has helped our product development group to generate ideas quickly, evaluate them efficiently, and implement action plans effectively." - Laura Donahue, Nestle
"Six Thinking Hats excites everyone in this organization. It has added a new dimension and accountability in our workplace and has shown excellent results. We have adopted it as a company philosophy." -Ron Barbaro (Prudential Insurance)
“I believe Dr. Edward de Bono’s work in teaching people what to think may be the most important thing happening today.” - George Gallup
"Six Thinking Hats systematically provides an opportunity for creativity in an environment that's free of the criticism and confrontation we used to see. This means that everyone can collaborate and build on even the craziest of ideas to come up with creative solutions. It's true, we had great results using Six Thinking Hats with QSTAR (an increase in the efficiency of the development process by 40%), but the long-term impact is even greater. We can repeat our success over and over because of these changed behaviors." -Suzanne Wolfe, Human Resource Director, MDS SCIEX